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The use of examples in expository texts: Outline of an interpretation theory for text analysis

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Abstract

Much has been made about the difficulties students have in transferring their learning from one context to another. We suggest that students learning from examples use ‘imitation’, a subtype of analogical problem solving (APS). Whereas APS involves manipulating a mental representation, imitation involves mapping the surface features of a source example to a target problem and no assumptions are made about what a student ‘knows’. Often imitating a ‘close variant’ of a source problem is likely to be relatively successful; however, trying to solve a ‘distant variant’ by imitating an example creates difficulties in mapping values and adapting the source example to the target. In this paper we argue that some students' inability to transfer their learning is very often due to the teaching material rather than any ‘failure’ on the part of the student. To this end, we have developed an interpretation theory based on the proportional analogy framework (a:b::c:d) which can be applied to text analysis. The theory is demonstrated using examples taken mainly from computer programming textbooks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Luton, LU1 3JU, Bedfordshire, U.K.

    Ian Robertson

  2. Department of Psychology, Open University, MK7 6AA, Milton Keynes, U.K.

    Hank Kahney

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  1. Ian Robertson
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Robertson, I., Kahney, H. The use of examples in expository texts: Outline of an interpretation theory for text analysis. Instr Sci 24, 93–123 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120485

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